


Try Again Tomorrow [The Witching Hour Au]

by chemically_imbalanced_romance



Series: The Witching Hour [5]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, and i really don't think the graphic violence thing is enough to tag but i wanted to be safe, ghost au, it's a very mild description of a neck injury that doesn't hurt anymore, so riley and virgil are technically dead, the major character death is there bc this is a ghost au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:55:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23597209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemically_imbalanced_romance/pseuds/chemically_imbalanced_romance
Summary: Virgil and Riley work to improve their sentience.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Series: The Witching Hour [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1414318
Comments: 7
Kudos: 41





	Try Again Tomorrow [The Witching Hour Au]

**Author's Note:**

> Throw up, mention to the neck injury of Riley’s, anger, yelling. Patton uses she/they pronouns and Riley (sympathetic Dececit) uses they/them.

Patton hummed as she and Virgil laid on their stomachs on Roman’s porch, sharing a colouring book. Virgil clasped a green crayon in his trembling, sweaty palm, focusing intently on the page as he struggled to stay in the lines. Patton was worried, but she wouldn’t let it show.

Virgil dropped the crayon as the front door opened. 

“Patton?”

Patton looked up at Roman’s mom, with a smile. “Hi, Ophelia!” 

She knelt down with a worried smile. “Do you want me to get Roman? He’s home, you know.” 

Patton shook her head. “Nope. I’m good.” 

Virgil snickered quietly. Ophelia couldn’t hear it. 

“O… Okay.” She straightened up. “Are you staying for dinner?” 

“That sounds good!” Patton switched out his crayons and gave her another smile, before focusing back on the colouring book. 

She seemed horrifyingly confused, but easily gave in and went back inside. Virgil went to pick up his crayon again, and squeezed his eyes shut. 

Patton grabbed his arm, eyes wide in worry. “Are you okay?”

“I’m gonna throw up.” He jumped to his feet and raced inside the house. 

Patton rushed to follow him into the bathroom, jumping around Roman’s dad in the hall. His voice carried through the house and a moment later, Roman appeared in the doorway, eyebrows creased in worry. 

“It didn’t work?” 

“Does it look like it worked?” Virgil snapped. 

Alastair poked his head in. “Everything okay?” 

“Patton’s not feeling good,” Roman said. “We’re fine, Dad, I got him.” 

Alastair held his hands up in surrender and left. Patton rubbed Virgil’s back as he emptied phantom stomach contents into the toilet. “We’ll try again tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, you should probably get some sleep now. Wait, do ghosts sleep?” 

“You’re an idiot,” is all Virgil said before he pushed past Roman and disappeared. 

xxx 

“It’s fine,” Logan insisted, hand clasped in Riley’s. 

Once Riley made the breakthrough with the book, and they realized they were able to touch each other without falling right through, something in them made it impossible to stop. They were constantly holding hands, or had an arm around the other, or resting their head on the others shoulder. Riley’s spirit still hadn’t quite caught up with the present- While Virgil’s phantom gave nothing away to his lack of a heartbeat, Riley’s hands were still sweaty, and the cut on their neck still occasionally bled. They were in a constant state of panic. 

Logan prayed that if he got them out of this alley, that would change. 

“Come on, we’ll go slow,” Logan promised. 

Riley gripped their hand as they made their way toward the edge of the alley, away from where Riley was murdered and away from everything that happened after. 

Riley felt themself being pulled away from it all, and while they wanted so desperately to be relieved, excited,  _ happy-  _ They just felt sick. 

“Stop,” they gasped, and their legs gave out. Logan rushed to help them up, wrapping a strong arm around their waist. “Stop, no, I can’t. I can’t.”

Frustrated and defeated, Logan helped Riley back down the alley and settled them onto a chair Logan had brought them. Logan reached into his bag and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. “Alright, let’s keep working on these, then, and we’ll try again tomorrow.”

Riley looked up and a small, nervous smiled wormed its way onto their face. In the middle of reading, Logan looked up and caught their eye. He faltered and blushed, and had to clear his throat to keep going. 

They spent the next few weeks like this. Virgil was making progress, but Riley was not. At night, Virgil was a true angry spirit- He threw things and broke things and sometimes screamed into the spare pillows from the linen closet. Roman’s parents questioned him on the broken objects, and Roman didn’t have an answer. But through all that, each day Virgil got a little farther, until he was able to walk right into the street. 

Patton gasped from the porch as a car came hurtling by- Right through him. He let out a breath and Roman whooped and clapped beside him. 

Logan and Riley didn’t know it, but Virgil wasn’t just aimlessly easing himself out in any random direction. Roman had scoped out the shortest path to the alley, and each day, Virgil got closer. 

“How do you think they’re doing?” Virgil asked as they walked down the road. When he first started, just a few steps a day was progress. Now he was able to walk at least a mile farther out. 

“Not good,” Patton said sadly. “Logan told me. Riley’s not making any progress at all.” 

“But…” Roman gestured to Virgil with a confused frown. “How does this make sense, then?” 

They both just shrugged. 

xxx 

“Riley, hey,” Logan whispered, trying to keep them grounded with his hands gripping their wrists. 

Riley let out little hiccupping sobs, trying to meet Logan’s eye but unable to through the thick drops of tears. 

“I can’t do it,” they insisted. “I’m never going to get out of here, why are you still here?” 

“No, stop, you are.” Logan brought one hand to the back of Riley’s head, pulling him in close. “If Virgil can do it, so can you. You can.” 

Riley jumped up and let out a frustrated shout, pushing Logan away.  _ “I’M NOT!”  _ He yelled, his voice bending and contorting.  _ “We’ve been trying for months!”  _

Logan had to think for a second. Had it really been months since Logan first stumbled across Riley, stuck in his echo? It had been, hadn’t it? 

He shook his head. “Ri-” 

Riley let out a guttural, furious scream, throwing his hand back and sending a dumpster flying out of the alley and crashing against the concrete. Logan gasped and took a step back. Riley blacked out. 

xxx 

“A  _ dumpster!”  _ Logan insisted. 

He, Patton, Virgil, and Roman were all in Roman’s basement, Patton’s backpack of candy emptied out in the middle. Logan was talking around a Jolly Rancher. 

“Have you ever done that?” He asked Virgil with wide eyes. 

Virgil shrugged. “I mean, yeah, I’ve thrown things. Never something that heavy, though.” 

“They were so angry,” Logan said quietly. “They were so  _ frustrated _ .” 

“Hm.” Virgil fell quiet, his face thoughtful. 

“Enough of this!” Roman whined. “God, we talk about too much ghost stuff now. I’m getting burnt out! Can we play a video game?” 

They all looked at him, and Virgil pushed him over. He yelped. 

xxx 

Virgil was quiet the next few days. He hissed at Roman whenever he came too close, and he and Patton spent all their time together in silence. Virgil was thinking. 

Logan continued to visit Riley, but they put a hold on their sessions. They read and listened to music and podcasts and Riley asked Logan questions about his life, but they didn’t work. Logan was afraid Riley wouldn’t be able to take it if another thing went wrong. 

Then, one day, Virgil appeared. 

Riley tensed up as he walked down the alley, and Logan’s face lit up when he saw him. “Virgil!”

At the familiar name, Riley relaxed, but only a little bit. 

“Where’s the others?’

“They don’t know I’m here,” Virgil said when he got close. “I needed to finish this today. Riley?”

Riley looked cooler than Virgil imagined. When Logan said stage makeup, he kind of expected it to look dumb and fake, but it was actually… Impressive. He looked like a real half-snake man. 

“Riley.” He knelt down in front of them. “What are you doing?”

They looked at him in confusion. “What?”

“Why are you still here?” Virgil gestured around. “What are you still doing here?”

Virgil pushed Logan back as Logan got angry, and started defending Riley. “Stand up.”

Riley hesitantly obeyed. They didn’t want to, but Virgil was here, wasn’t he? So he knew what he was doing. 

Virgil pushed them back, hard on their chest. Energy that couldn’t have come from Virgil’s muscles pushed Riley against the wall. “Do you feel that?” Riley nodded, eyes wide. Virgil pushed him again. “Why are you still here?  _ Why are you still here?!”  _

“I don’t want to be here!” Riley shouted back. 

“Then act like it!” 

Riley let out a growl and shoved Virgil hard, and an energy that came from deep within them flowed out through their arms and sent Virgil slamming against the brick wall. Virgil groaned as his head bounced off the bricks. “Now  _ walk out,”  _ he snapped. 

Riley’s entire body was more alive than it had been in as long as they could remember. They were tingling and shaking and they could really  _ feel _ themselves there. They’d forgotten what that felt like. 

They looked between Virgil and Logan, and Logan nodded in encouragement. Nervousness twisted at their stomach, but they were ready to go, they were really ready to fucking go. 

So they walked down the alley, and out past the theatre. 

And then they were out into the street. 

And they were out. 


End file.
